Joint Reality
by RunFromTheMedic
Summary: They should have known better. They'd all watched/read SAO at some point or another. Nothing good came from being a beta tester for a virtual reality game. So one of their coworkers going off the deep end and crashing the program while they were all logged on was on them. But that still didn't explain how the fuck they ended up in the Naruto verse. Multiple OC's. AU.


**Author's Note**: I've had this idea rattling around in my head for a few years, and since my go to procrastination for school is writing and I hate my summer class with a burning passion, I decided to write to try to get it out. I'm a big fan of this type of story so I hope you guys like it.

On a language note I don't know Spanish. The phrases I looked up are Mexican slang and are from the internet (i.e. travel blogs and google translate). If I get something wrong and you guys know the correct version please let me know.

* * *

**Chapter 1: System Crash**

Ducking under a spear that would have taken her head off, Marisol seriously questioned her life choices.

She _could_ be back at the bakery right now, mixing dough and batter to help her parents get ready for the day.

Instead she was sleep deprived, border-line dead from exhaustion, and helping fight back an army of the undead.

Retaliating her near decapitation by burying her leg in the gut a foot soldier, punching through his armor to get to his ribs, Marisol admitted the only real difference between her day job and this was if she was here, she actually got to punch the people that pissed her off.

"Less daydreaming, more fighting!" was snarled in her ear, causing Marisol to jump and lash out at another attacker.

Shooting a quick sheepish look to the hedgehog that had just landed on her shoulder she twirled under another sword. Madoka only rolled his eyes, hopping up to her head and growing his spikes out to cover her back and impale the three that were trying to sneak up on her.

"Getting distracted will get you killed." The hedgehog snapped, baring his fangs at another spear wielder charging them.

It was chaos after that; a blur of dodging, blocking, and attacking one enemy after another until they all blended together into a blur of blood and violence. The only thing that actually registered was Madoka moving around her and acting as support, and even that was kind of muted.

The both of them were exhausted after a week of non-stop running and fighting, and they were running on fumes. Each movement they made got slightly slower, clumsier, and harder to carry out.

If the battle didn't end soon Marisol wouldn't be leaving this place alive. And dying majorly sucked.

As if hearing her mounting desperation, thunder rumbled overhead, shaking the ground and rattling her teeth.

The fighting paused, everyone looking up at the sea of lightening wreathed clouds that had formed while the battle raged.

Ozone was thick in the air, leaving a tang of metal on the back of her tongue.

Using the distraction to skewer anyone within a thirty-foot radius of them, Madoka grew in size to wrap around her in a protective spiky ball at the same time a voice shouted, "¡_Aguas_!"

The last thing Marisol saw was pillars of lightning raining down, turning the battle field white before her vision went black.

* * *

"Rise and shine, Cupcakes!" a voice sang, cutting through the dregs of exhausted sleep to stab at Marisol's brain.

"We're all alive and victorious - if slightly flash fried - and we've been out for several hours according to the clock. Time to get up, face the day, and help patch us up because Doc is still down– oh fuck, _call it off call it off call it off_!" the voice ended on a shrill scream as several solid sounding _thunks_ rattled the ground nearby.

Cracking open an eye, Marisol squinted against the light that was burning her retinas, and focused on the source of the noise.

She could just make out the blurry shape of an enlarged Madoka rolling after someone who was still shrieking.

It took a full five minutes before the nickname she was called permeated through her muddled brain and she could put a name to the voice.

"Madoka, don't kill Percy." She slurred out half-heartedly, levering herself into a semi-upright position.

The woman sprawled out on the ground next to her groaned at the noise, rolling over so her face was buried in the flank of the dog at her side. Both were covered in dirt and blood, electricity still shooting off sparks from their hair and fur.

Annoyed that they were still sleeping but she wasn't, Marisol reached over to smack them, lost her balance, and fell on top of the two. Deciding that using them as a bed was a better idea, she went limp.

"Ger'off a me," was muttered by one of the two, but the voice was too hoarse to tell. Marisol willed herself to get heavier.

"You electrocuted me."

"Gave warnin' fur zap e'erybuhdy. Fight over. Rest now."

"Love you too, cousin." The dog snorted at the dry tone, rolling over slightly to eye Marisol with one tired pale eye, before cuddling closer to Reina.

Another shrill scream had the lot of them wincing, hands automatically twitching for a weapon before forcibly relaxing.

"The hedgehog is evil." Reina muttered, watching as Percy jumped around like a demented monkey to get away from the metal version of Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Percy's loud," Marisol countered, feeling what energy she managed to regain drain away as she watched the two dash around.

Shuffling farther into the dogs' fur, Reina watched with her.

"How do they have so much energy left?" the slightly older woman wondered after another five minutes. Marisol shoulder twitching in lieu of a shrug.

"Madoka's running on pure spite at this point. Percy's just a freak of nature."

"Perhaps he is this 'energizer bunny' you mention every now and again." The truly massive dog rumbled, both eyes open now and enjoying the show.

"Good to see all that lightening didn't fry your voice Ranga." Marisol chirped in fake cheer, raising her arm in a toast but letting it flop back down when it was only halfway up.

Too much effort.

"Percy did a head count?" Reina managed to force out, voice still sounding like gravel, broken glass, and bone deep exhaustion.

"We are all alive." Ranga confirmed, shifting again to be wrapped farther around the two girls and have a better access to Reina's pulse in her ankle.

"_¿Neta?_ Is this place secure enough to camp out?" Marisol asked, pushing herself into a fully-upright position and regretting it almost immediately. "I have to get back to the bakery. If we're short staffed for another day because of me, _Mamá _will make sure you never find my body."

"I still can't believe you're comparing Aunt Lola to the shit we get into here."

"Have you seen her angry and waving around a spatula?" Marisol asked incredulously, "Give me fallen gods, demon lords, and dead possessed soldiers any day, they have _nothing_ on my mother. And I know you agree with me. _Mama_'s babysat you enough times for you to at least fear the wooden spoon." Reina broke out into painful sounding chuckles, and even Ranga huffed out a laugh.

"I'm going to need another day or two before I can go back to work," Reina managed after she got her breathing back under control, "I need to set up and secure the camp here before I check out, then I'll need to actually sleep."

"I'll tell her you're cramming for midterms. That's my excuse." Marisol hummed, burrowing further into Ranga's fur. She ended up falling to the ground with a yelp when Reina bolted upright, staring down at her cousin in horror.

"I forgot about midterms." She whispered, "_Dios mío_, I forgot about midterms!"

Jumping to her feet Reina grabbed her swords, quickly sheathing them before frantically digging through the pouch strapped to her thigh. Pulling out a handful of ration bars she hurled them at Ranga before screaming at Percy who was still getting chased by a giant metal coated hedgehog.

"Percy! You're securing camp! I gotta go!"

"_What?"_ Percy didn't get a chance to argue. Before he could say anything else Reina had already grabbed the pendant around her neck, twisted the dial, and collapsed back down onto Ranga, seemingly asleep.

Gaping at the abrupt exit, Percy didn't notice Madoka barreling towards him until the last second. With another startled shriek he threw himself out of the way, landing in a heap next to Marisol.

Rolling to a stop, Madoka glared at the boy hiding behind his human.

Marisol patted Percy on the head in sympathy, before fishing her own pendant out from under her shirt.

"She forgot about midterms," she explained, digging out her own set of ration bars to give to their resident blond." Give these to Madoka and don't let him chew on all the weapons. They'll make him sick."

"Wait, you're leaving too?"

"I have to be at the bakery bright and early." Marisol told him wryly, ignoring the way her hands trembled in exhaustion to rub at her face. "I'll get a couple hours of actual sleep if I leave now. When the others wake up feed them the stuff in the green flask Dani keeps in her bag. Yes, it _does_ look disgusting, and yes, they need to drink it. Preferable before Shen wakes up and makes them so Dani won't have too. I'll see you in a few."

Climbing to her shaky feet Marisol stretched, trying to work out some of the burning in her limbs before turning to Madoka. "Don't kill Percy and go ahead and sleep. How you're handling being up at all hours when hedgehogs are supposed to be nocturnal is beyond me."

"Necessity." The hedgehog in question grouched, but obediently curled into a ball to sleep.

Giving Percy one last tired smile she twisted the dial, and watched as the world fell away like sand in the wind before giving way to pixels.

Stripping off the helmet and the rest of the virtual reality gear that made up her gaming suit, Marisol flopped back down onto the bed provided by the gaming center, ignoring the aching in her limbs with the ease of long practice.

Virtual reality was great, but the reality part was actually starting to hurt; from the game overworking her brain or from not physically moving for hours at a time, Marisol wasn't sure.

Either way, her mother wasn't going to let her get away with selling her time to the company for more than another day or so before she started beating down the door.

The woman would be even less impressed when she realized her youngest daughter wasn't _really_ studying for her college exams.

Alarm set for four a.m. Marisol fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow.

* * *

"You look like shit, _mija_."

"Thanks, _Mamá_. You really know how to make a girl feel better."

"I'm just saying." Lola tutted reaching out a hand to rub at the smudge of flour under Marisol's eye. Marisol leaned into the touch a moment before turning back to her bowl of sweet bread dough.

Dumping the contents of her mixing bowl onto the counter for her to kneed, Marisol was half tempted to just use the fluffy looking pile as a pillow.

"You don't have to help us with this order, _mija_. Your aunts and cousins are going to be helping too." Lola reminded, putting down her whisk so she could cradle Marisol's face with both hands, concern shining in her eyes. "You're exhausted."

Marisol waved it off. "My other job has been more…demanding recently, but I'm perfectly capable of helping you and _Papá _with such a big order."

Lola huffed, but patted Marisol's cheek fondly before letting go. "How did we get such a hardworking daughter? And how much jewelry was ordered that they work you to the bone?"

"Making jewelry isn't work, _Mamá_." Marisol chided, "And I finished most of my projects for class. I was talking about my other job. The one I work with Reina."

"Your cousin looks worse than you do." Putting her hands on her hips, Lola glared, "Any chance she gets she fall asleep. Standing up, sitting down, doesn't matter. She sleeps. They work you both too hard."

"Reina's the lead of our group." Marisol defended, and hopefully placate her _Mamá_ enough that she wouldn't get _Tía_ Marta riled up to the point they would march into the gaming office and chew out her bosses. "She'd got more responsibilities so of course she's more tired than I am. But it's paying for college. Culinary school and Texas State aren't cheap."

And they really weren't. Marisol had choked the first time she had seen the price of tuition after she got accepted into the Arts and Design program, and culinary school for Reina hadn't been much cheaper.

Their family was comfortably average when it came to finances, but that was mostly because they all lived out of each other's pockets. A set of cousins and their children lived with her parents, while Reina's parents had more aunts and uncles, and that wasn't even counting the others living next door or across the street. They practically owned the whole neighborhood and all people living under the same roof chipped in to help each other's finances.

Helping her brothers with their first year of college had put a strain on things and neither Reina nor Marisol wanted to put their family through that again if they could help it.

Which lead to the numerous jobs they did in their limited free time to supplement their scholarships, which had all been replaced by video games. Being one of the beta testers for a new virtual reality gaming system that was due to hopefully come out some time in the next five years paid _really_ well.

Intra Reality had been a lucky find on the campus job listings, and an even luckier gig since neither Marisol nor Reina's majors had anything to do with gaming.

None of the people in their test group had anything to do with gaming now that she thought about it.

Reina was culinary, Marisol herself was metallurgy and jewelrysmithing, Percy was an Music major, Dani had originally been on the dancer route before some health issues reared their ugly heads and she switched to medicine, nobody knew exactly _what _Charlie did just that they were in college, and James didn't have a major yet since he was still fresh out of high school and more inclined to just work.

Marisol hummed.

It was a job, and it paid really well even if the game they were testing could be scary at times – nearly all the time – and Intra Reality was pretty ridged about the hours their beta testers were required to work.

Minimum of eight hours a day with ten to twelve hours on Saturday or Sunday was murder on all of their schedules and their sense of reality, but they managed to make it work.

But God forbid any of them have a social life.

"You're over kneading the dough, _mija_."

"_Lo siento,_ _Mamá_."

Shaking her head to clear it, Marisol set the dough aside to rest before starting on another batch.

Virtual reality might take up a good portion of her time, but it wasn't her whole life no matter how much it seemed like it.

She was going to enjoy her reality – her family, her school, the bakery – because no kind of equipment or story could beat this.

* * *

"How do you managed to look like you haven't slept in weeks when I just saw you yesterday?" Reina's microbiology lab partner asked, half joking, half concerned as Reina fell face first on the lab table to try and get a few more minutes of sleep before the teacher walked in.

Sleep she wasn't going to get because he just kept _talking_.

What's-his-name probably meant well, but Reina didn't have the excess brain power to do more than grunt at him.

She looked like she hadn't slept in weeks was because she _hadn't_.

Time went a lot faster in the game. If Charlie's calculations were right, an hour in the real world was roughly a week in the game.

And Reina worked eight-hour shifts.

Bone deep exhaustion was her new norm.

At least the game was almost over. The first walkthrough of the _Demon Wars _should be finished within the month real time. Their group of testers would be given a vacation while the programmers worked on all the bugs their group had noted – the main one being the perception of time thing – then they'd start on the next game.

A pencil poking her cheek had her cracking open an eye to stare blearily at her lab partner, who held up his phone for her to see his email.

It took a few minutes – English wasn't her go to language and it took herculean effort to translate the words to something that made sense to her overworked brain.

Lab had just been canceled.

"_Gracias al bebé Jesús."_

Flopping out of her chair and onto the floor so she could be horizontal for what felt like the first time in forever, Reina ignored the other students in her class and got comfortable.

She had three hours until her next class.

She was _sleeping_, and no one was going to stop her.

Not even the well-meaning asshole trying to shake her awake and get her to go home.

She had had her last midterm thirty minutes ago and she had absolutely zero fucks to give about the rest of the day so she was getting her sleep now, and then she'd sleep some more in the nutrition lecture she had next.

Someone dropping something utterly ruined that plan.

Jerking upright, feet under her in a crouch that would let her dodge at a moment's notice and instantly alert, hand going to a hip where a sword usually sat, Reina's eyes flicked around the room, trying to find the threat and pick out any escape routes if it was something she couldn't handle.

She only saw her classmates staring at her in shock, the person at the bench on the other side of the room frozen mid-reach to get her fallen water bottle, and her lab partner sprawled on his ass from where Reina had knocked him, gagging from the fist she'd slammed into his diaphragm in the same motion she had gotten to her feet.

It took a few seconds more before it clicked that this wasn't the Elemental Nations, the fictional world from the game that she was currently camped in, and no one here was trying to kill her.

Reina stopped trying to reach for the swords she didn't have.

"Sorry…" she mumbled, offering her hand to the gagging man before thinking better of it when he flinched and grabbed her bag instead. "Conditioned reaction." Finishing her lame excuse with an awkward wave Reina hurried out of the lab, making a beeline for her car.

She wasn't planning on paying attention to her next lecture anyway so she might as well go to work.

That decision had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that a few of her lab mates were in the same class. Nothing at all.

Reina didn't have a shift at the restaurant today – which was a shame, she genuinely loved cooking so it would have been a great way to distress and calm down – so she immediately got on the exit to take her to the Intra Reality testing center.

She could sleep in one of the beds they provided for beta testers for a few hours then log on and make sure Percy had actually secured the camp properly before preparing for their move to the nearest temple.

Reina wasn't looking forward to the full-on fight that was going to come with it.

The corrupted god in that particular temple had sent the army of the undead from yesterday, and was likely just as insane as all the other ones they'd encountered so far.

Lovely.

Turning on her blinker, Reina made a note to spend this upcoming weekend relaxing.

Intra Reality was _finally _giving her particular group of testers the weekend off, and Reina was going to splurge at a spa. Money be damned there was a massage with her name on it.

This game had been slowly seeping into her everyday life since the time difference made it hard to separate the virtual from the reality when she wasn't wearing the gear. It was expected – she'd signed a waiver and everything so that she could get therapy if needed after the testing phase – with how warped time was.

It resulted in a lot of jet lag and stress.

It was one of the main flaws of the game design that the company was trying to fix.

But it paid for culinary school, so a bit of trauma was worth it.

And now she would never run the risk of losing her cool under the duress of self-entitled customers.

It was a win-win.

She just needed a breather so she could get her bearings.

Being surrounded by all her aunts, uncles, cousins, and the hoard of children that made up the younger generation would be a great way to ground herself in the here and now. And she was sure her female portion of the group wouldn't mind splurging on a spa day with her.

It was a shame she couldn't invite Dani to come along with them since she, Percy, James, and Charlie lived on opposite sides of the country.

Everyone in their group could probably use it.

* * *

Percy could say with unwavering conviction that he loved Intra Reality.

It was like every fantasy nerds dream come true; Magic, sword fights, demons, gods, and sealing scripts like something out of his favorite books, with a group of people that he could honestly say he was closer to than people he had known for most of his life.

Not surprising, seeing how he fought, bled, bickered, teased, supported, and spent most of his time with these people.

He was _living_ his wildest dreams, and it was _awesome_.

He was like a kid given free rein in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

Sure, it came with some trauma, but that was kind of a given with the title of the game being _Demon_ _Wars_, and that they were playing the main group of fighters for the battle to save the world.

Intra Reality did regular psych exams to make sure that the games weren't affecting them _too_ badly and that they were all coping with the stress of beta testing in healthy ways.

As far as he could tell, no one was on their way to the funny farm and no one got off with worse than knee jerk reactions to loud noises and a healthy paranoia when it came to their surroundings and where they were sleeping.

All perfectly reasonable things to have, in Percy's personal point of view.

But this…

Staring grim faced as James – he was barely a year out of high school, he was practically a _baby_ – completely lost it, mind fracturing like so much broken glass, Percy wondered how the company could have possible missed the build up to _this_.

How had _they_ missed the build up to this?

Descent into a complete psychotic break couldn't have been that unnoticeable, could it?

"James! Please, just calm down and _think_." Reina pleaded, digging her swords into the ground, partially to keep her in place, but mostly to keep herself upright after James did…_something_ with the withering black tendrils that were sprouting from his feet courtesy of the snake curling around his shoulders. "It's just a game!"

"_Just a game_?" James _shrieked_, voice breaking and desperately angry in a way that made Percy's heart clinch as more tendrils sprouted from the shadows to carve lines into the ground. "We fight and bleed, and you think it isn't _real_?!" James gripped at his hair, tears streaming down his face as his face screwed up in pain and rage. "This is more real than the world we go back too! This is _better_ than the place we go back to. I'm sick of the difference! I'm sick of going back!"

Dani was hunched over a bleeding Marisol, Madoka standing protectively in front of them, putting pressure on the gashes and doing her best to heal the wounds the tendrils caused when James had snapped and _failing_.

Dani had never failed at healing something before.

"James, stop it! You're hurting us!" She begged, pain and betrayal clear on her face, desperation ringing in her voice when the blood just wouldn't _stop_.

Marisol was going to die.

They'd all died in the game before, it was kind of unavoidable with how challenging and semi-realistic the developers were trying to make it. But they'd kept the deaths to a minimum after the first few. In the past year none of them had died at all.

But dying here and now…something in his gut clinched.

Something was wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong, and James – Oh god how had they missed him falling apart? - was at the epicenter of it all.

He'd done _something_ and now they couldn't log out.

This had so many overtones of SAO it wasn't even funny.

Dying wasn't an option. _Couldn't_ be an option.

Percy grit his teeth, trying to get into a better position. From the corner of his eye he could see Reina and Charlie doing the same, faces grim.

None of them may have died yet, but if they couldn't subdue James soon, couldn't get him to calm down, that was going to change. They couldn't risk him messing with the programming anymore and frying all of their brains.

If it came down to it, James would have to die. They couldn't risk it.

James flinched, guilt flashing across his face for a split second before it hardened, cementing the fact in Percy's mind that he was beyond reasoning.

"You shouldn't have tried to stop me." He defended, voice trembling and unhinged. "If the war ends, we'll have to go back for good. I don't want to go back. _I hate that place_!"

"And you think I don't?!" Charlie snarled, drawing James's attention. "You're not the only one who wants to escape reality. You're not the only one who buries themselves in fantasy because it's easier. But it's still just that. _Fantasy_. It isn't _real_! Not the war, not this world, none of it's real! We can't stay is a place that doesn't truly exist you idiot!"

James's voice was quiet, childish and begging, eyes hidden behind the fringe of his hair. "Why don't you understand? We're _family_. You all said so. We're supposed to always stick together, so why don't you get it? Why won't help me? Why do you want to go back? Why won't you _stay with me?!_"

In contrast Reina's voice was soft, pained, but lined with steel that sliced through the air around them with more precision than her blades.

"This has to end." She brandished her swords, Ranga growling at her back, "We _will_ help you James. Just not here. Not with this. The _game_ has to end. Whatever you're doing, you need to _stop_."

"That's…what I thought you'd say." James said sadly, flashing them a too wide, broken smile, "But don't worry. I'll fix it." He reassured, more to himself than them as he hunched over to grip his head as Lada curled tighter around his neck. "I'll fix _everything_ so we can stay together and you'll all see it's better this way." Then the gouges around his feet lit up.

Seals.

Percy lunged along with Charlie, aiming for the seals while Reina and Marisol went after James, Dani not far behind.

"Don't let him-!"

Percy didn't get to finish. Didn't even get close to being in range to do anything.

Black tendrils shot forward, tips forming into gaping maws as they slammed into his chest, biting down, twisting, _ripping-_

The world went dark.

Percy _screamed._

* * *

Dani woke up screaming.

It hurt, everything hurt _pain-pain-pain-something-was-wrong-something-was-_missing-_it-was-gone-gone-gone-gone-gone-_

She fumbled blindly, eyes blurred by tears, hands running over her arms and over her torso, down her thighs and calves to clutch at her feet.

Her legs were still there.

Her legs weren't missing and she could feel her hands clutching desperately at the skin.

Dani took a shuddering breath.

Her legs were still there, so they were still in the game. She only had legs when she was in the game even if she wasn't supposed to be able to feel them like she could now.

_But something was missing._

Scrubbing her hands over her eyes to clear them Dani got her first clear look around.

White.

Pure white, nothing _but_ white, eye searing and stretching for what seemed like forever in every direction, the only smudge of color being the fallen bodies of Mari, Rei, Percy and Charlie laying in a rough circle.

Dani dragged herself in their direction, managing to pull herself up onto shaky legs.

She was the healer. She had to heal them. If they were still in the game that was all she could do.

Except she wasn't able to heal _anything_.

Staring dumbly down at her hands which should be glowing but _weren't_, Dani wondered if now would be a good time to cry.

Eyes watering in pain were one thing. That was justified and a perfectly normal reaction to pain. Full on sobbing because her hand wouldn't glow was another matter entirely.

She couldn't use her skill to heal and she had used up all of her potions during the last god fight before James snapped. She couldn't even see the health bars of her friends that should give her some kind of idea of where she should start since she couldn't even activate a basic diagnostic skill.

_Just what had James done?_

Gritting her teeth Dani slapped her face. Hard.

Crying could wait. Friends first. If she couldn't heal them immediately then old fashioned first aid and triage would have to suffice. She had the supplies.

Even then there wasn't much she could do.

Bandages and salves, stitches where she could, rearranging limbs and torsos so the spine wouldn't be strained.

Whatever James had summoned to attack had left deep gouges carved along their skin that refused to be stitched and a gaping puncture wound left in their chests.

They didn't bleed or even hurt anywhere close to what they were supposed to for their level of severity. Just left a black residue that coated the flesh like tar spilled over ground meat.

Dani decided against trying to remove it after a few minutes of arguing with herself. If bleeding started because she removed it everyone would bleed out without her healing ability.

Dying couldn't be an option until they could get in contact with the devs and have them fix whatever James had done to the programming. Leaving the stuff on wasn't ideal, but it was keeping everyone alive for the moment.

Which Dani couldn't understand because the puncture wounds went halfway - or in Rei's case - completely _through _their chests. Almost all of them had their sternums shattered along with a good portion of their ribs being broken, and their lungs were severely damaged along with the heart.

It made Dani feel sick, bile burning in the back of her throat like acid, over just how much detail the game showed their injuries, over how they were able to get such damage in the first place.

None of them should be capable of moving, let alone breathing.

They should be dead.

But they weren't.

They weren't even in any real pain if Dani's own state was anything to go by. She was sore and achy and everything _hurt_, but nothing like the searing agony James had caused them. Agony they should logically – they shouldn't feel pain on that level at all it was just supposed to be a game a hysterical part of her mind pointed out – still be feeling.

Thank whatever gods were listening that they weren't.

Dani really wished that everyone else would wake up soon. They needed a plan; to get out of here and to get to James.

James needed help, needed _them_.

He'd said so himself.

And Dani would bet her prosthetics that the others were going to drop everything to get on a plane and find him the minute they were back in the real world.

Whether it was to hug him, punch him, or bodily haul him to a shrink was up for debate, but they _would_ find him.

Personally, Dani was leaning towards all three. Breaking his zygomatic arch was the least he deserved after all of the stress and sheer mind-numbing terror he had caused over the last couple of hours.

Settling down as best she could with her injuries hampering her movements, Dani quietly urged the others to hurry up.

* * *

Charlie's first coherent thought wasn't really that coherent. It wasn't repeatable in front of small children either.

Everything _hurt_.

Jesus Christ what exactly had they done?

"Charlie? You with us?"

Eye's cracking open into slits, Dani's worried face swam into focus.

"Kill me. Please." Dani snorted, face twisting into a grimace as she clutched at her stomach. Her heavily bandaged stomach.

"Suffer with the rest of us." Another voice rasped from his left. Turning their head felt like moving boulders, but Charlie eventually managed and couldn't help but wince in sympathy. Rei was a mess.

Clothes torn, burned, and caked with dirt, sweat, and what looked suspiciously like blood. The details of the game really were mind blowing. She was leaning on an equally haggard looking Percy for support as she cradled the-

Charlie's mind went blank.

Rei had a hole in her chest. A hole _straight through_ her chest, maybe twice the size of a fist where her heart was supposed to be and he could see all the way through-

_James. Seals. PAIN._

Charlie grabbed frantically at clothe and flesh, fingers falling into a hole that was in _their_ _own chest_-

"Breathe with me Charlie." Dani ordered, grabbing their hands and forcing Charlie to make eye contact. "Match my breaths. Don't think, just breathe. Deep breath in, deep breath out. That's it. Now let's do it again."

"_James_\- "

"Breathe Charlie. Just breathe."

Charlie did, matching each breath to Dani's as he worked on calming down.

It wasn't really working, but at least the hysteria was being pushed aside enough to think rationally.

Somewhat rationally, but still better than nothing.

Pushing Dani's hands aside Charlie turned towards the others. "We still can't log out?"

"Pendant's are completely gone." Percy grunted. "The message system with the dev's isn't working either."

"Of course it's not." Charlie sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "James, what the hell have you done?"

"We were hoping you would know that." Dani admitted, packing away the last of her gauze back into a side pouch strapped to her leg. "You are the resident seal master."

"I didn't get a good look at it. I was just trying to stop it."

"You needed to look at it so you could stop it."

"I was a little busy dodging shadow snakes and then getting impaled." Charlie snapped, wincing at how waspish they sounded even to their own ears. "Sorry Rei."

"It's fine."

"No, it's really not. But thanks anyway."

"Why did the seals make it so we couldn't log out?" Mari asked quietly, gratefully using Dani as a support, "I know they had a lot of versatility in the game, but why did it trap us in here?"

"Because the developers had the bright idea to have seals that used computer coding as their basis." Charlie grimaced, "It's why they have so many circles and looked like complete gibberish. The seals are the programming language of the game. It's also why all the major sites are covered in the 'God Seals of Creation'. They _literally_ created the Nations. And since seals are the basis of the world…"

"James essentially fucked up reality by playing god." Percy finished, mouth set in a hard line.

An uncomfortable silence fell while they all absorbed that, the gravity of the situation wrapping around their shoulders like a weighted cloak. Dani was the first to break it.

"Why isn't James here with us?"

"I don't know that either." The words tasted like acid on Charlie's tongue. "Fuck, I don't know _anything_."

"But you know seals." Rei said, eyes flinty, "And from what you said that's basically programming. Could you put something together to get us out?"

"Maybe? I mean, I can _try_," Charlie offered, pulling nervously at a lock of red hair, "but there's no guarantee I'll get it right. I don't know computers at all, and the programming I know is still pretty limited."

"Not to be a Debbie downer or anything, but why would you know programming and nothing about computers?" Percy asked, a spark of interest clearing away some of his obvious stress. "It seems kind of contradictory."

"Programming is just a type of language. You don't necessarily need to learn about the country to learn a language so…" Charlie shrugged. "I like languages and it made the game easier."

"How many languages do you speak?" Percy started bouncing in place – much to Reina's annoyance – overeager movements hampered by the bone deep gash along his ribs.

"Six. More if you count made up languages from books."

"So your major would be…?" Percy wheedled.

"Linguistics."

"Hah! Called it. The lot of you owe me fifty bucks!"

"Rei, can you smack him for me?" Mari deadpanned, her left eyebrow arching the only outward sign of danger.

"Gladly."

"OW! What the hell woman? Don't hit your severely injured comrades! Doc, back me up here!"

"Hit him for me, too."

"Oi!"

"We have more important things to worry about than Charlie's major." Mari broke in, annoyance practically dripping from her tone, "I thought that would be _rather obvious_."

"We've been trying to figure out Ginger's major for three years!" He defended, flailing his arms in Charlie's direction. Rei's eyelids went to half-mast.

"_Percy._"

"Shutting up right now."

"Thank you." She turned her attention back to Charlie. "I know it's a long shot and it's risky, but trying would be better than nothing." She reasoned, looking at everyone to be sure they were all in agreement. "If James didn't fry his own brain, he's going to keep trying…whatever it was. You're our best bet of getting out of here in one piece."

"No pressure or anything." Percy piped up, his easy grin helping hold the horde of butterflies wielding scythes in Charlie's gut at bay just the slightest bit.

If Charlie didn't know better, it would just be like another strategy meeting before a boss fight, bickering and assigning task as Reina kept them all on tract.

But there was a gap in their huddle where one more person was supposed to be, and a lot more was at stake than risking a few lost levels and drop items.

Charlie swallowed, brain already going over every seal they knew and what they could try. His brain paused.

"Has anyone been able to do any of their skills?"

"My skills are mostly mass destruction so I haven't tried." (Reina)

"Same for me. It also requires moving so no." (Percy)

"I have skills that aren't attacks, but I'd need a forge for them to work like their supposed to." (Mari)

They all turned to look at Dani, who was fidgeting and refusing to make eye contact.

"I tried healing everybody when I first woke up. It wouldn't work, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't even run a diagnostic." She said eventually, voice barely above a whisper and dripping with shame.

Mari snaked and arm around her shoulders and Dani gratefully leaned into the hug.

"But you could access your inventory?" Charlie pressed, "You didn't have all these medical supplies on you when we went into the fight did you?"

Dani blinked. "No…I, yeah. Yeah, I got the stuff out of inventory."

"So even if we don't have our pendants anymore, we can still technically access the inner sanctum."

The inner sanctum was actually their main hub/save point/inventory. According to game lore it was located in the spirit world, which everyone was able to access through their own souls if they were able to master _chi_ manipulation and had their pendants. Basically, if they were players and able to fight or use their souls for any kind of skill.

A living souls location in the spirit world was kind of like a world unto itself. The place was completely customizable, could be used to store items such if well maintained, and used to train and level up the level of their souls, but was like a bubble floating in an ocean. Outside of the fragile walls was a whole other world. The devs used it mostly it for special quests and item collections since it was so bloody hard to travel through.

Charlie was pretty sure the developers were on drugs when they made it. It was bright, colorful, otherworldly, and made absolutely no sense whatsoever depending on which area you where in. Even then it was kind of iffy.

To enter the inner sanctum, you just needed to 'meditate' and then you'd be able to do anything you wanted or equip anything you needed. Pretty useless in the middle of a fight, unless your name was Mari and by some act of the universe aligning you managed to craft a bag that acted like a bottomless sack linked directly to a person's inventory.

"I think I can rig something so we'll end up in our inner sanctums if Mari remembers how she made Dani's pouch." Charlie offered, still rolling the idea around in their head, trying to piece together different seals to get the desired effect.

"I remember." Mari nodded, looking worried. "But is that really a good idea? That'll split us up."

"Better than limbo." Percy argued, "We'd have all of our stuff too, so we'd be better prepared. And we might not all be seal masters but we at least know how to set up defenses and I'd feel a lot better in a place I can trap to hell and back." Charlie nodded in agreement.

"The whole spirit world is linked. Once we're there it's only a matter of finding each other's realms."

"While we're at it why don't we try finding a grain of sand in the ocean?" Dani asked wryly. "The spirit world is huge."

"We could set up a meeting point? We all know where at least a few landmarks are that haven't changed." Reina offered. "Carset Peak?"

"That could work." Charlie mumbled, ideas and seals already running through rampant. "Once we meet up I could anchor our realms there. Set up a spirit portal."

Reina's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Better get started then. What do we need to do?"

Charlie got to work.

* * *

They had no way to tell time in the white world, no clock or need to eat, so it felt like years before the seal arrays were set up.

Five sigils set up in a circle, etched onto the nonexistent white ground with ink and blood once supplies ran low.

Percy wiped his hands on his filthy pants, still crouched where he had finished drawing the last line.

"This is it then." He murmured, taking in every line before shooting Charlie a grin. "So how does it work? Clicking our heels and ritualistic chanting? No place like home, Toto."

Reina pinched the bridge of her nose. "_Eres un pinche idiota._"

"Why thank you! I try."

"You have no idea what she said." Mari deadpanned.

"Not a clue." He confirmed cheerfully, pulling himself to his feet with Dani's help. Once he was steadied, his face turned serious. "Instructions?"

"Stand in your circle and meditate. Reaching for your soul should activate it." Charlie did another walk around, making sure every line and symbol was in place before sighing, nervously tugging on another lock of hair and stepping into the last circle. "This is it."

The rest of them followed.

"I can't guarantee anything." Charlie said quietly as they finished getting into position. Mari smiled. "We know."

Sitting down, careful not to smudge anything Reina huffed out a breath, crossing herself and mumbling a brief prayer that Mari copied.

"Get to your realms, secure it as best you can, then get to the Peak." Reina repeated. "We'll see each other soon." She took another breath. "_Pues cruzaré los dedos por tí. ¡La mejor de las suertes!"_

"Can we get encouragement in a language we all understand?"

"_Percy_."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He huffed out a laugh, before closing his eyes. "See you soon."

One by one they closed their eyes, falling into a familiar routine as they sunk deeper and deeper inside themselves.

None of them noticed as the seals started to glow and pulse, each wave of energy forcing jagged cracks across the world around them.

The seals flared.

The five of them disappeared just as the strange white world shattered.

* * *

**¡_Aguas_!** Look out!

**_¿Neta? _**_Oh really?_

_**Dios mío** Oh god_

**_mija _**daughter

**_Lo siento,_ **_**Mamá** _Sorry Mama

_**Gracias al bebé Jesús.** Thank you baby Jesus_

_**Eres un pinche idiota** _You're a fucking idiot

**_Pues cruzaré los dedos por tí. ¡La mejor de las suertes! _**I'll cross my fingers for you. Best of luck!


End file.
